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Show , ysi- l;M&rfr JrC "At disti,n f hut three miu- ZOVZli.3 ZZAP, MAOaTTAC 'A C 4. from the Baths, and easy of access, is XSZAMD. jMrCH? OT1!!! H the" Jump, one of the mountains that 1 45rilrvJif form the Goshen pass, gradually rising By ELMO SCOTT WATSON TTTTAV1! you a "Lovers' Leap" In f"l your locality? If you haven't, then it's ' 13 unique, and you might well 1 5 capitalize upon that fact and, H. JUL in advertising to tourists the a attractions of your region, T assure them that "llils is the I A on'y P'ace In the United I ' States which does not have among its sceuic beauties a single Lovers' Leap." Just how many of these places there are. is unknown. But start anywhere In the East and drive West and you'll ' llnd plenty of them. There's one be tween Little Falls and Danube, N. Y., a rocky hill overlooking the Erie canal , and the Mohawk river. Visit Starved J Kock park between Ottawa and La Salle, 111., and you will be shown a rocky projection "from which an II- llnl warrior and his sweatheart leaped to death In the river, rather than deliver de-liver themselves into the hands of their enemies." Visit Independence, Iowa, and they will tell you that Cedar Ce-dar rock, near Quasqueton, is also cnlled "Lovers' Leap" where "the Indian In-dian lovers, Wapsie and Pinicon, from whom the Wapsipinlcon got its name, are supposed to have plunged to their deaths in the swirling waters of the river." And out In Oakdale, Calif., they will sell you a post card picture of "Lover's Leap on the road between Oakdale and Knights Ferry where a mythical Indian maiden committed suicide sui-cide by leaping Into the river." ! . While nearly every township or i county can boast of at least one Lov ers' Leap, Mackinac Island In northern Michigan has the distinction of hnvlng 1 two places where love's young dream found a tragic ending. The guide books t will tell you of "Lover's Leap This lone pinnacle rises to a height of 145 ' feet above the waters of Lake Michi gan about a mile west of the main part of the city. The legend which gives It Its name is that In the long ago the beautiful Lotah, an Indian maiden of the Oibway tribe and only daughter of a famous chief named Wawanosh, watched from this height the departure depart-ure of her lover, named Geniwegwon, with a war expedition across the water; wa-ter; and to the rock she came day after day to await his coming. At last, the party returning without him. Drought word of his death and the distracted maiden not caring for life any longer leaped from this cliff; the lifeless body was found by her father at the foot of the precipice the eve-ping eve-ping after." Then there Is Robertson's Folly, where " "fis told that a young and beautiful Indian girl was wooed and won by this dashing young Lieutenant Robertson, but the poor maiden soon learned that he was to depart for the East at an early date to marry a white girl. He granted her a last farewell meeting at this their trysting place, and in a desperate struggle she succeeded suc-ceeded In precipitating him and herself her-self over the cliff." But If you want the story of a Lovers' Lov-ers' Leap with a wealth of detail, go to Linn Creek, Mo., where there has been handed down from pioneer days this tale of Lovers' Leap above the clear waters of the Xiangua river before be-fore It flows into the murky Osage: i "A century ago the mighty Osage j and Shawnee tribes dwelt along these i etreains. They were fighting enemies, j and bones of big-framed giants, war clubs of stone, rusted arrow-heads of crudely fashioned metal and other E - - ' ' ' L q JX VETiS 'IjtAP. rtgAR signs ot struggle have been round for years by plowboys as they turned over the rich alluvial soil along the river bottoms. "Grey Eagle was then a medicine man of the Shawnees; his daughter was Laughing Water. A young warrior war-rior of the Osage tribe came up the racing waters of the Niangua in his canoe on a pleasant day, and stopped before the birch bark tepee of Grey Eagle. The head of the young warrior war-rior flaunted his eagle feathers ; a deerskin deer-skin shirt and leggings, and buckskin moccasins encased the form of this young giant. Tails of wild animals hung from a wampum belt and a bow and arrow swung across his broad shoulders. These intimate details have been carefully preserved in connection with the world-old story of 'love at first sight.' "Laughing Water rose gracefully to welcome him, but she reckoned without with-out her haughty father, to whom the sight of an Osage was poison Ivy. But none the less, Laughing Water bad a mind of her own, as daughters of a tribal chieftain should have, and she encouraged the shots from the love arrow of the Osage warrior. "Day by day the young ' couple roamed the forest or floated on the silvery waters of the Niangua, Laughing Laugh-ing Water sang like birds in tree tops, or laughed till the forest rang with melody as her lover related his stories sto-ries of wonderful adventure. Then as now, lovers it would seem were prone to spread a glamour around their past. "The Osage warrior came to friendly terms with the Shawnee braves, as their bitter jealousies vanished before evidences of his skill as a fisherman and hunter and prowess as a warrior. They took him into their council, but old Grey Eagle would not mix medicine medi-cine potions that would enable him to become a son-in-law. "Courtship of this pair lasted during the summer, and every means of winning win-ning the father's consent proved unavailing. un-availing. Laughing Water was urged to flee the tribal domain and become one of the Osage people. But her Shawnee blood would not permit, so the young couple decided since they could not live together they would die together. Tims united in the land of the great silence their love would be unhindered by the wishes of a medicine medi-cine chief. "Face to face and hand to hand the Indian lovers plighted their everlasting everlast-ing troth, sought a high bluff on the river beneath which the waters formed a great swirling eddy, cast themselves far. into the channel and no trace of them was ever discovered." A similar detailed account of another an-other Lover's Leap, which bears the more prosaic name of Jump mountain, was told In a recent issue of the Lexington (Va.) Gazette, prefaced with this editor's note: "The following follow-ing article has been contributed by a friend who is satisfied that the account ac-count is historical:" "At a distance of about three milt from the Baths, and easy of access, is the' Jump, one of the mountains that form the Goshen pass, gradually rising in height until at the distance of a mile and a half from the river It terminates ter-minates abruptly, making a depth to the bottom below of two thousand feet, and presents a view as extensive as interesting. "The valleys of the Baths and Walker's Walk-er's creek were once the favorite hunting ground of the Cherokee tribe. While out on a hunt on one OC' casion, the Cherokees ventured in what is now known as the little Calf Pasture, to which their neighbors, the Shawnees across the mountain, claimed an exclusive privilege. They were ordered or-dered off, and refusing to go, a fight ensued, which ended in a discomfiture of the Shawnees, who proceeded at once to collect and assemble thuir braves for another trial at arms. "After several fights the Cherokfces were finally driven through wha is now known as Goshen Pass, and continued con-tinued the fight around the basi of the mountain only to be renewed in a more sanguinary form on the 'Jgh-lands 'Jgh-lands of Walker's Creek. "There the Cherokees organize? for the last and final conflict. The Shawnee warriors had concentrated the onset was made the war-whoop was sounded, and a defiant thout rang back as a welcome. The arows whizzed as so many winged messengers messen-gers of death, and the tomahawk whirling through the air, doing its work of blood, was accompanied with a yell of exultation which noted another an-other brave had fallen. "Amidst the scene of carnage and death, far above the noise of battle, Its savage yells and its death shouts, a wild shriek was heard, and an apparition, ap-parition, with streaming hair and outstretched out-stretched arms, was seen flying through the air from the mountain summit, only to disappear mysteriously mysterious-ly at its base. This strange and supernatural super-natural sight was witnessed by the warriors below. They were awestruck. awe-struck. Their superstition was aroused. The fight ceased. A council coun-cil was called. The calumet was smoked. The tomahawk was buried. A peace was concluded. Both parties believing that the Great Spirit was angry, and had hid his face under a cloud. From enemies they became friends, and as a pledge of future reconciliation, collected and buried their braves in one common mound, near the junction of Walker's and Hay's creeks. "The incident which had caused a cessation of hostilities was as tragic as singular. The Cherokees, aware that the fight would be a severe one, had sent all their squaws and pap-poose pap-poose some distance to the rear, except ex-cept a pretty Indian maiden, whose interest in-terest in a young chief had induced her to climb a mountain acclivity nearby, from which she could witness the stirring scenes below In the hottest hot-test of the fight, beholding her chief, whose warwhoop was as well known to her as his warlock, fall by the hand of a fierce Shawnee, in a moment of despairing love, witli one wild shriek, leaped from the mountain top into the abyss below, following her favorite chief to better hunting grounds. From this Incident the mountain obtained the name of Jump. The Indian mound almost level with the ground, is well remembered by some old persons in the vicinity when it was 30 or 40 feet high, showing the mortuary list on that occasion of the Cherokees and Shawnees to have been large." I t y Western Newspaper Union.'- |